Today, Brian O’Neill sits down to talk about “The Grift.” This was a 2023 release by Immaterial Books, and so with the upcoming election and events occupying life in the United States, we thought it an important opportunity to sit down again and speak about the project with the author, Andrew Kochanowski. In this episode, Brian and Andrew cover the book itself and its concept, and so much more: from how Andrew got started on the project and how it unfolded, to how he composes a frame, to how he thinks about the longer-term trajectory of a self-directed documentary project.

The Grift is not a political book in the traditional sense. Instead, it takes a dispassionate look at a phenomenon enabled by conventional mass media, new digital channels, and informal word-of-mouth networks. It looks to actors playing their part ...